


I'll Be Right Beside You, Dear

by pinkalldaypinkallnight



Category: Stereo Kicks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:56:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2706461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkalldaypinkallnight/pseuds/pinkalldaypinkallnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They’ve managed to somehow scrape together a full-on specials menu and get all of the tables ready by opening, and even though Reece hasn’t had a real day off in about three months because of Chris and Casey’s drunken antics, he wouldn’t trade his job and his boys for anything.  Barcs has put on his favorite diner mix and Tom's trading lead vocals with Barclay and Charlie, and they’re all chiming in on the harmonies.  Reece doesn’t remember the last time he felt so much like he belonged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Be Right Beside You, Dear

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Stereo Kicks Diner AU outlined in a conversation with aimmyarrowshigh, so mil gracias a ti!! Also for just generally helping me make sure this wasn't awful, so. Everyone go love on v!
> 
> I'm hoping to do different POV stories within this verse, if you have a suggestion LMK!

Reece has just dropped his last customers their check when he spots Chris and Casey stumbling down the street toward Walsh’s Diner. He glances around, ostensibly looking for other tables that need help, but in reality checking for Tom. There’s a slip of white apron and a glimpse of a tiny ankle slipping out the back, and -- oh, it’s time for the trash run. Well. He’ll have to get back soon then, won’t he, and deal with... them.

He’s never been able to understand why Tom always gives Chris and Casey the same day off, even if it _is _Wednesday, and there’s really only need for one waiter. They get pissed every bloody week, is the thing, and show up hungover on Thursdays, so Reece is always conned into coming in on what’s meant to be his day off.__

__Chris skips through the door, and Casey nearly falls over his own feet when he sees Lauren and Camila in the corner booth. The effort to stay upright is wasted when, a second later, he trips over the mop James left out again and falls flat on his arse. Reece knows the next step in Casey’s Grand Seduction Plan is full-out serenading the girls, so he intercepts Casey’s drunken shuffle toward their booth and drops him next to Chris at the Big Booth, where they all sit for Tom’s ridiculous “staff meetings” on Sunday mornings while Barclay plies them with French toast and bacon._ _

__Barclay pops his head up over the divider between the kitchen and front, which definitely does _not _make Reece blush, and definitely _does_ make Casey’s eyes light up. Before Casey can even start slurring out that he wants chips, Barclay dings the little bell on the counter and winks at Reece, setting his heart aflutter as he makes his way over to pick up the plates of chips and gravy Barclay’s made up for their resident drunkards. ___ _

____“Ay up, Tom’ll be angry; you know how he hates it when they show up as we’re about to close,” Reece drawls, lifting the plates on one arm and grabbing cutlery and the massive plastic cups they use for these occasions._ _ _ _

____“I think I can distract him long enough for them to eat up,” Barclay responds with a smirk._ _ _ _

____Ignoring the way his stomach drops, Reece smiles and turns in time to see the girls leaving. He looks over to the Big Booth, where Chris is balancing one of the paper diner hats they give to kids with the crayon cups and paper placemats on top of his slowly-growing quiff. Casey is nowhere to be seen, and Reece panics for a moment, dreading a repeat of The Drunk-Locked Bathroom Incident of 2013, when he hears a snore and sees shoes sticking out of the booth._ _ _ _

____Slamming the plates down on the table with a little more force than is strictly necessary, he throws himself into the side of the booth bench with the nicer upholstery, feels terrible and slides the full water glasses over to ChrisandCasey’s side much more gently. Chris starts shoving chips into his mouth at an alarming rate, and Casey lets out a snuffle-snort and nearly tips over off the bench before snapping awake and joining in on the chip inhalation._ _ _ _

____From here, Reece can hear Jake and Tom near the back door before he can see them, and, as always, they’re arguing about Charlie. The kid had just started a month or two ago, and Tom seems to have taken Jake’s seemingly good-hearted interest in training him instead as an effort to get a new weed-smoking pal. It’s a constant source of annoyance for Tom. They haven’t gone a day without Tom threatening to fire Jake if he smokes up in Charlie’s presence._ _ _ _

____Having Tom start off this night, which is bound to be long and a bit shit in terms of taking care of Tweedle Chris and Tweedle Casey, with a blowout with Jake, is never going to end well. Reece gives Barclay the _go-get-your-boy_ eyebrow glare he’s been perfecting, and it seems to have actually worked this time, as Barcs comes out from the kitchen and pulls Tom into his arms. _ _ _ _

____Everyone pretends to ignore the way Tom completely melts as soon as Barclay puts his lips against Tom’s neck. The love bite nearly works until he spots Chris and Casey in the Big Booth._ _ _ _

____Reece is pretty sure he’s never seen someone go from looking so blissed out to so exasperated in a span of two seconds. He marches over, looking for all the world like a cat who’s just been doused with a garden hose, little face scrunched up and nearly hissing. If he weren’t so small and didn’t love Casey and Chris so much, it would be terrifying._ _ _ _

____Reece thinks about intervening, but decides it’s worth it to see how this unfolds. After a few minutes of Casey giggling and Chris protesting innocence, as if anyone would believe that they aren’t pissed out of their minds, Reece’s patience pays off._ _ _ _

____It starts when Tom realizes that they’re halfway through plates of burgers and chips, sauce smeared all over their mouths and hands. After looking suspiciously at Chris’ stuffed-full mouth, then Casey’s hand using his burger to gesture, he looks at Barclay, whose puppy eyes are out in full force._ _ _ _

____“You… You _fed _them? How could you? We’ve talked about this!” he screeches, looking like he’s gearing up for a full-on strop. Barclay walks forward and catches his tiny hands and holds them close to his chest, leans down, and pecks the lines in between his eyebrows until Tom swallows his protests and allows Barcs to lead him through the diner to the hallway with the restrooms and supply closet.___ _ _ _

______“Thank GOD for Barclay. We’d all be out of work without him being willin’ to shag the brains out of Big Boss Tom every time he gets stroppy,” Casey slurs out, letting his head fall onto the table with a thunk._ _ _ _ _ _

______There’s a gasp from the back door, and shit, Charlie hasn’t gone home yet. Reece hopes he’s cool about it, because the only reason Charlie has this job is because the last busboy was a homophobic dickhead and nearly took the diner down when he found out about Tom and Barclay. Eyeing him carefully, Reece walks over, making a questioning noise._ _ _ _ _ _

______“They’re… They’re shagging? But... I thought they were doing inventory!” Charlie ekes out, voice cracking halfway through and oh, good. He’s just innocent, not an arse._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Well it’s clearly time for dear baby Charlie to go to bed, so we’ll be off. Reece, mate, you’re ok with this lot and locking up, right? Cheers! See you tomorrow!” Jake yells out as he ushers Charlie out of the diner. Reece’s response -- that he hasn’t even got keys to lock up, not to mention that he isn’t fucking working tomorrow -- is swallowed by the reappearance of James, who seems to have been napping under one of the tables with his head on top of his mop bucket. Without saying a word, he follows the busboys out, the bell hanging on the door dinging with finality._ _ _ _ _ _

______Reece grabs the remaining half-full pitchers of water from each table and brings all of them over to Casey and Chris, because if they’re going to be stuck here for... however long Barcs and Tom take... so that they can lock up, he’s sure as hell going to make the boys sober up so he doesn’t have to come in tomorrow._ _ _ _ _ _

______He steals a few of Casey’s chips and fucks around on his phone for a while, before deciding to try and take a nap. The red plastic upholstery isn’t the most comfortable, but he’d be lying if he said he’d never slept over here in preparation for an early shift. Besides, James manages it pretty much all the time. He’s rarely not asleep folded into some strange shape or another._ _ _ _ _ _

______Eventually, Reece is awakened by a clinking that sounds very like real glass, and not the plastic cups he’d given the boys. Peering over the edge of the table, he sees Chris pouring shots out of a flask into two shot glasses and decides to go back to sleep and let Tom deal with it. He’s the dad; he can get them home._ _ _ _ _ _

______Reece isn’t sure how much time has passed before a yelp jolts him awake. Sitting up, he sees Tom hastily rebuttoning Barclay’s work shirt while Barcs is lovingly wrapping a green plaid scarf ‘round Tom’s neck._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What the bloody fuck are you lot still doing here? We heard the door go _hours _ago!” Tom asks. He does sound like he feels a little bad. Well. Maybe he shouldn’t have been shagging Barclay like some sort of Tantric maniac, then.___ _ _ _ _ _

________Reece is distracted enough by the expanse of Barclay’s chest slowly disappearing from view that it takes him a minute to process the question, and when he looks up into Barclay’s questioning face he blushes beet red._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Jake took Charlie and James home, but these two weren’t ready to walk and I haven’t got any keys, so we stayed. I’m sorry?” he offers, giving Tom his best smile as an apology._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Shit. ‘S’aright, I forgot you’ve not been given keys. Well. Let’s get going then, this lot need to be back tomorrow bright and early.” Tom yawns as he’s pushing Barclay toward Casey and Chris, who are now swaying back and forth and singing Elton John rather badly in the booth._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Barclay ambles over and slings Casey easily across his back, then pulls Chris’ elbow until he’s mostly upright. Tom seems to be enjoying the way hoisting the boys makes Barclay’s arms look too much to help, so Reece jogs over and puts one of Chris’ arms around his skinny shoulders._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________With a more than a bit of effort on Reece’s part, a lot of admiring on Tom’s, and an easy smile from Barclay, they make it out the door and down the three blocks to the city center, where the boys’ flats all sit above the quaint small-town shops on the main level. Reece has loved their little town ever since he arrived nearly two years ago and found a flatshare advertisement, which led him to Tom and Casey, who live in the other bedroom. Their flat is above a bakery, and he wakes up every morning to the smell of fresh bread and scones and, if he’s lucky, Darla will give him a cuppa and a biscuit before he goes to the diner._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________It’s pretty clear to that their place will be co-opted tonight, though, so after some rearranging as Tom and Barclay beg off, he leads Chris across the street to Chris-and-Barclay’s with Casey trailing them like a duckling._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He struggles a little getting Chris to start up the stairs, but Casey skips ahead, gleeful as anything, which sets Chris right off and pretty soon, they’re upstairs and Casey is twirling in circles._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Until he drops to the ground in a heap and immediately begins snoring._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Reece grabs Casey’s gift from the boys last Christmas -- the Bambi duvet with Flower the skunk on, originally meant to take the piss for Casey’s terrible striped quiff last year -- and covers the sleeping boy._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Reece knows he should get some sleep, but if he doesn’t sit up with Chris, he’ll just end up watching infomercials all night and be exhausted for his shift tomorrow, so he curls into Chris’ side on the couch. Thumbing down the volume on the remote, he pulls the other boy’s head down to his shoulder and waits a good half hour until his breathing evens out. Slowly laying Chris out on the couch with a soft knit blanket from James’ mum, Reece turns off the telly and heads into Chris’ room to attempt to get a decent night’s sleep._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

\-----

He’s woken up by a truly terrible smell and a crunching sound. It’s better than the time James and Jake thought it’d be funny to wake him up with the warm water prank, but not by much.

He opens his eyes and when his vision clears, he’s met with a foot in the face and Casey standing in the doorway eating bacon. Sitting up, he realizes Chris has migrated to bed during the night, which explains the smelly feet but not the fact that Casey is awake.

“Bacon?” asks Casey, with an unfairly chipper expression. Without waiting for a response, he thrusts a fistful of greasy bacon under Reece’s nose.

“Cheers, mate, have you made tea? If I’m going back to ours I’ll need a cuppa. You know Tom’s going to stay naked until he’s absolutely got to go to work, and I can’t face that without some tea.” 

Reece loves Tom, he really does, even though he sometimes thinks Tom might have the wrong idea of him because of The Barclay Thing. But really, it’s just a schoolboy crush; Reece can’t be faulted for appreciating that Barcs is both a truly lovely person and is also truly lovely to look at. Tom is great, is what he means, but seeing all of his bits of a Thursday morning as a reminder that he’s shared them with lovely Barclay all night… that’s more than Reece ever asked for.

Instead of knocking Chris out of bed, like most of the others would, Reece tucks him in more snugly and puts a pillow in place of his own body so the boy doesn’t wake up completely alone. 

Reece is a rather thoughtful person, if he says so himself. 

Scratching his belly, he heads into the tiny kitchen of Barclay-and-Chris’ flat, which he knows nearly as well as his own. He spots a cup of tea in his designated mug, still warm, on the counter and decides not to hate Casey for his immunity to hangovers.

Sipping too quickly, he burns his tongue and sets the tea down to cool a bit. He starts to pick up the clothes the boys left lying around the night before, though there aren’t as many as usual, and by the time that’s done, his tea has cooled down enough that he gulps it down. He wasn’t joking about needing it before heading home. Reece grabs a random jacket that he thinks may have originally belonged to Charlie and heads out to get a change of clothes and hop in the shower.

\-----

He knocks twice on the door of his flat before opening it, eyes covered. “I’m here! Cover your bits! I’m walking in! I’m opening my eyes! Don’t be naked, please!”

He removes his hand from his face and sighs at the sight of already-showered and (sadly) dressed Barclay, who’s likely been on a run and made brekkie for Tom and probably saved a kitten from a tree, as well, and it’s only eight. Good; he won’t have to deal with naked Barclay AND Tom then, just... Oh, yes, only Tom, who’s just come through to the living room wearing nothing but a duvet-cape and a scowl.

“What are you doing here? I thought you stayed with the boys! They’re meant to work this morning... you’d better have not let one of them die of alcohol poisoning, or you won’t get a day off for months.” Tom snarks from Barclay’s lap, where he’s been pulled to sit. He’s thoughtful enough to rearrange the duvet into a duvet-skirt instead of a duvet-cape.

“Oh, well... Casey’s fine, but Chris is still sleeping, so I thought I’d come shower and get my uniform so Chris won’t have to open up. I’ll just. I’ll just grab it and go back and get ready at their place, sorry. Sorry!” he keeps exclaiming as he backs down the hall to his bedroom, where he grabs his extra uniform and another jacket before running down the hall and shouting out one last “Sorry!” as he’s heading out the door. 

He thinks he can hear Barclay reprimanding Tom as the door slams shut, but he can’t be sure. That was a bit harsh, even for Early Morning Tom, and Reece can’t help but wonder if he’s actually done something. There’s no time to worry about it, if he has.

Heading back to Barclay-and-Chris’ proves to be impossible, as Casey has either fallen asleep or left and neither he nor Chris are answering the door. Reece doesn’t want to face Tom’s wrath for interrupting again, so he instead crosses to the other side of the little town square, scaring a good number of pigeons that are nesting in the defunct fountain that marks the middle of the town, until he reaches James-and-Jake’s-and-now-Charlie’s-too flat and knocks. 

Someone yells at him to come in and he turns the door handle, wondering how they’ve not yet been robbed as they never seem to lock their door. He waves at Charlie, who’s sitting on the ragged mustard couch watching cartoons and eating cereal out of what looks like a salad bowl for six people. 

Reece goes directly to the tiny bathroom and takes a shower, using some of James’ mousse to get his hair in something resembling a quiff afterwards. Dressing quickly, he shuffles back into the living room, where Charlie’s gotten out another bowl and brought the box of cereal and milk over. It’s as good of a breakfast as Reece is going to get, at this point, so he snuggles under Charlie’s waiting arm and pulls the bowl toward himself. They watch a talking dog in silence until James’ door creaks open. 

A tall brunette girl comes out holding a pair of impressive stilettos in one hand, takes a look around, and walks out the front door.

Reece raises his best questioning eyebrows and Charlie just looks back and shrugs. “Dunno mate, I don’t even ask anymore. At first I thought it was girls from his course at the uni and they were studying -- ” and of course he did, bless him -- “But then I asked James -- ” again, of course -- “and he said he’d sit me down and tell me about the birds and the bees one of these days. And that’s when I realized... he’s shagging his way through the town!” 

After this observation, Charlie looks so damn proud of himself that Reece has to cuddle closer to keep from pinching his cheeks.

James shuffles out of his room a half-episode of Spongebob later, and doesn’t seem to find it strange that the girl is gone and Reece has somehow appeared, so Reece doesn’t feel the need to explain. He checks the time on his phone and groans, realizing that if he wants to open the diner for Chris he’ll have to get going soon. James isn’t scheduled to start until later in the day, but Charlie might be up for walking together. 

“You ready to go? If we leave now Darla might give us some biscuits on the way,” he bribes, not that the boy usually needs incentive. He’s new enough that he’s just pleased to be invited places. Charlie hops right off the couch and flicks the telly off. 

They walk in companionable silence until they reach the bakery, where Reece cajoles Darla into giving them a bag of fresh-baked scones that they eat on the last few blocks of their journey. Walking through the door at the diner, the bell jingles and Barclay turns in the kitchen and waves with a potato peeler in hand. 

“Hello boys! We’re doing a shepherd’s pie special today, with my famous garlic mash. How’s everything? Reece, y’alright? Sorry about Tom this morning, he was extra cranky because he didn’t sleep well last night, poor love.” 

Barclay’s face is so fond when he talks about Tom, the boys had made Tom a calendar with a different picture of Barcs talking about him for each month a couple of years ago. They had spent three hours going through pictures. 

Three. 

Hours. 

Reece had loved every minute, of course, but it had mostly been because he knew how happy Tom would be when he got it, especially as Barclay sat and blushed for about an hour straight when he saw it. Mostly for that reason. 

Only a tiny bit because three hours of pictures of Barclay was somewhat of a dream realized.

“Ooh, look at me, I’m Barclay, I make faaaamous garlic mash. Come to Walsh’s, everybody, me mash is world-famous,” Reece says, in what feels like an authentic Barclay accent.

Charlie’s snorting laugh cuts that fantasy short because, honestly, when even _Charlie _is laughing at you, something’s gone horribly wrong. Instead of dignifying his blatant lack of appreciation for Reece’s comedic genius, he scoots past the younger, though somehow terrifyingly larger, boy and grabs the silverware bins to start folding up napkins.__

__Charlie sits to help, and Reece is somewhat mollified, though he’s not quite decided on full forgiveness yet._ _

__There’s a massive racket coming from the street. Casey and Chris blow through the front door with James and Jake hot on their heels, clearly racing from the flats. They stampede toward Reece and Charlie’s little table and stop just barely short of knocking over Reece’s meticulously folded napkin pile._ _

__“Oi! No running in my shop you bunch of miscreants!” and thank God, here’s Tom come to create some form of order before they open in, oh shit, 15 minutes. With Tom there, the scuffling tones down somewhat and they all work together pulling chairs down from tables, filling water pitchers, and chopping in the kitchen._ _

__They’ve managed to somehow scrape together a full-on specials menu and get all of the tables ready by opening, and even though Reece hasn’t had a real day off in about three months because of Chris and Casey’s drunken antics, he wouldn’t trade his job and his boys for anything. Barcs has put on his favorite diner mix and Tom’s trading lead vocals with Barclay and Charlie, and they’re all chiming in on the harmonies. Reece doesn’t remember the last time he felt so much like he belonged._ _

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: pinkalldaypinkallnight


End file.
